THE Seventh-Day Adventists camp site at Loo Creek on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway is currently alive with activity as more than 2,000 Pathfinders, Master Guides and Pastoral Representatives from some 85 clubs around Guyana meet for the hosting of ‘Camporee 2016.’

The four-day activity which began on Thursday concludes on Easter Monday.
Special presenter was Guyanese-born Pastor Nichola English Newsam, who currently resides in Trinidad and was specially invited to the Camporee to inspire young people with her teaching of inspiring testimonies. By day three (Saturday), following her presentation, scores were baptised at a nearby Loo Creek estuary.
Other distinguished persons attending the Camporee and lending tangible support to the youths were Minister within the Ministry of Public Health Dr. Karen Cummings, who is herself a decorated Master Guide and worships at Victoria on the East Coast of Demerara; Pastor Richard Eart James, President of the Guyana Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists; Assistant Ministries Youth Director with responsibility for Youth in the SDA Church, Lennox Jason; Director of the Youth Ministries and Chaplaincy, Department of the Guyana Conference of Seventh- Day Adventists, Pastor Marvyn Smith and others.

Camporee 2016, according to Jason, is about the largest Camporee since 2014. It is a display of talent among Pathfinders (aged 10-15) and Master Guides (16 and older), who are sworn to give service of leadership to the Pathfinders.
In the clubs, members are taught various skills and hobbies ranging from nature to survival, art and craft and skills such as first-aid.
During Camporee, such skills learned will be demonstrated by the various groups and incentives will be awarded on the basis of merit. Last evening, during a social held at the camp site, several campers were awarded for impressive displays of skills learnt in various categories over the last year.
Today will be games day and Pathfinders and Master Guides will perform intriguing stunts such as crawling under logs, climbing through tyres, Tug-O-War and water games.

According to Jason, the theme for this year’s Camporee is ‘CLIMB’, highlighting the need to C- Connect, L – Live, I- Ignite, M- Model, and B- Become.
Said Jason: “It is hoped that at the end of the Camporee, the campers would have achieved a relationship with God that would take them from point ‘A’ to being closer with Him.
“We hope to inspire them, to move them from where they were, to where God expects them to be.”
Camporee, the Youth Pastor said, is open to every single young person. It’s not only for Seventh- Day |Adventists. ‘‘In our midst we have many pathfinders who are not SDA and many of them have come prepared to give their lives to Christ. They are people who just love the club, the values and the principles that the club teaches or portrays.